Akey loses mother before opener

It wasn’t mentioned in the postgame press conference by Robb Akey or any of his players, but early this morning Idaho athletic director Rob Spear posted on Twitter that Akey’s mother, Doreen, passed away before the Vandals’ season opening loss to Bowling Green. “Our condolences to Coach Akey and his family on the passing of his mother before the game yesterday,” Spear tweeted.

I’ve got more on that and Idaho’s 32-15 setback below.

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I spoke with Doreen for a profile on her son right before the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl. Robb was adopted when he was 13 months old, and shortly later Doreen gave birth to a second son, Todd. Robb’s father, John, died just months before he took the Idaho job in 2006. “I think that was probably the biggest disappointment for him – that our dad couldn’t see that happen,” his brother Todd said at the time.

I know Doreen was able to travel to Boise for the H-Bowl. She had been living near Todd and his family in Colorado.

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Moving on to last night’s game — what tailback Ryan Bass termed an “embarrassing loss — here’s my game story and John Blanchette’s column . The opening to John’s column summed up the evening perfectly:

MOSCOW, Idaho – Say, any way that mass exodus from the Western Athletic Conference can be accelerated?

Like maybe starting this week?

Subtraction in the ranks may be the only way the Idaho Vandals achieve any addition in the win column this fall.

OK, one game does not a college football season make, so rather than suggest it’s going to be a long year for the Vandals let’s just say Thursday was a long night. Or a short one – all intrigue having been sucked out of their season opener before the second quarter was half gone.

Bad timing on letting all the sunshine in through the Kibbie Dome’s end walls. This one deserved to be played in the shadows.

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Akey said defensive tackle Michael Cosgrove, who left the game in the second half, was dealing with cramps and should be fine. No word yet on injuries to Dion Bass, Landon Weaver or Kenneth Patten.

As John mentioned in his column, Akey said all his praise for the Vandals before the opener was genuine. And he still likes the potential of this team. But there were several disconcerting things about last night, and perhaps the most glaring was how the offensive and defensive lines were rendered totally ineffective by Bowling Green. Akey and his coaches have made a lot of the improvement and enhanced depth on the D-line and the cohesiveness of the O-line. Neither were evident.

The breakdowns in the secondary will also be a big focus when the Vandals look at film today. How were Falcon receivers so wide open play after play? “Our defense, our eyes were wrong,” safety Gary Walker said. Akey also mentioned his players’ eyes, meaning they were reading plays the wrong way. “We were poor with our eyes — misdirection plays killed us,” he said.

Asked where the team goes from here with a game against North Dakota next Saturday, Akey had this to say:  “I told my team that we need to go look in the mirror right now, myself included. I’m the first one that’s going to go look in that mirror … as ugly as it is. And I’m going to come back to work; this team is going to come back to work.

“I still love this football team. I still believe in this team. I’m not going to quit on this team.”